CROSPAL, software that uses agronomic expert knowledge to assist modules selection for crop growth simulation

  • Authors:

  • M. Adam;F. Ewert;P. A. Leffelaar;M. Corbeels;H. van Keulen;J. Wery

  • Affiliations:

  • Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands and Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Dévelop ...;Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands and Crop Science Group, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Univer ...;Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands;Systèmes de Culture Annuels, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), France;Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands and Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Center, P.O. Box 616, ...;SupAgro, UMR System # 1230, CIRAD-INRA-SupAgro, 2 Place Viala, Bít. 27, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1, France

  • Venue:
  • Environmental Modelling & Software
  • Year:
  • 2010

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Crop growth models are used for a wide range of objectives. For each objective a specific model has to be developed, because the reusability of a model is often limited by the necessity of a fundamental restructuring to adapt it to a different objective. To overcome this limitation, we developed a method to facilitate model restructuring by a novel combination of software technology with expert knowledge. This resulted in the decision-making software application CROSPAL (CROp Simulator: Picking and Assembling Libraries). CROSPAL includes (1) a library of processes each containing different modelling approaches for each crop physiological process and (2) a procedure based on expert knowledge of how to combine the different processes for the objective of the simulation. A brief overview of the state of the art in crop modelling is presented, followed by an account of the developed concept to improve flexibility in crop modelling considering expert knowledge. We describe the design of the software and how expert knowledge is integrated. The use of CROSPAL is illustrated for the modelling of crop phenology. We conclude that CROSPAL is a helpful tool to improve flexibility in crop modelling considering expert knowledge but further development and evaluation is required to extend its range of application to more processes and issues crop modelling is presently addressing.